After three years of EA rule, Chillingo co-founders Chris Byatte and Joe Wee have left the company. The pair continued to serve as director and general manager, respectively, after EA bought bought the mobile publisher in 2010. They're the third set of high-profile departures from EA-bought studios confirmed in the past week, following two Criterion co-founders plus a PopCap co-founder and its CEO.

"Joe and Chris have left Chillingo and EA. We wish them well with their future endeavors," an EA spokesperson confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz.

Why are they leaving? It's a mystery. Where are they going? Who knows! Time will tell.

Buying the company, reportedly for under $20 million, gave EA a firm foothold in mobile publishing, and Chillingo has now published over 230 releases. At the time, Chillingo was best known for publishing ZeptoLabs' Cut the Rope and Rovio's initial iOS release of Angry Birds, but owned neither. "You don't need publishers," Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka commented after the developer started self-publishing.